Computer data products are commonly licensed to organizations which provide the licensed data products to a number of different individual users within the organization. It is also commonplace for a particular licensed computer data product to be issued in a series of different versions and to exist in a number of distinct configurations within each version. Specifically, different versions can exhibit different operational characteristics, different data compatibilities, and/or different capabilities. Furthermore, different configurations can also have different features and/or operational capabilities. Different users may require different versions and/or different configurations, depending on their particular needs.
Licensed Computer Data Products
The terms “licensed computer data product”, “licensed data product”, and variants thereof herein denote any computer-related data product that is covered by a license, including, but not limited to: executable data, executable programs, applications, utilities, routines, applets, or similar code for execution on a computer; and content in digital data form (herein denoted as “digital content”), such as text, data and other data, audio, video, photographs, graphics, and multi-media; and games and the like, including supporting executable code, if any.
The term “computer” herein denotes any data processing device, including, but not limited to: mainframe computers; personal computers; workstations; servers; data network devices; portable computers, such as notebook computers, personal digital appliances (PDA), and the like; data terminals; game-playing devices; media players, multi-media players, and players of licensed data products; external hardware devices, including dongles and the like; and telephonic devices with data processing capabilities, such as cellular telephones.
Configurations and Versions
In a non-limiting example of different configurations for a licensed computer data product, a sophisticated user of a spreadsheet application might need advanced mathematical analysis functions that a casual user would not need. In this non-limiting example, the advanced mathematical analysis functions are typically provided via a module of add-on functions, a plug-in application, a special applications pack, or similar additional executable code. Other non-limiting ways of implementing such extensions in a licensed computer data product include providing all possible features thereof as latent capabilities within the product, but require the user to activate them via a special procedure. The term “user” herein is expansively construed to include the licensee of a licensed computer data product; or the licensee's employee or other authorized agent.
It often occurs within an organization that different users of a particular licensed computer data product require different versions and/or different configurations. In turn, a licensed data product typically requires an individual license update to change an installation to a different version or to a different configuration. Thus, a version update or a configuration update for a licensed computer data product implies an update to the license for the computer data product. Hence, it is understood that a reference herein to a version update or a configuration update for a licensed computer data product is accompanied by a corresponding update of the license itself.
The term “update” herein denotes any change or modification to an existing or installed license or to existing or installed license-related parameters, and includes, but is not limited to, changes commonly referred to as “installation”, “upgrades” (feature additions); “downgrades” (feature removals); “renewals”; “extensions”; and “uninstallation” (complete removal of the licensed computer data product); and “maintenance”. It is emphasized that the term “update” is expansively construed to include the initial installation of the licensed computer data product and/or the license therefor, notwithstanding any juxtaposition of the terms “installation” and “update” herein (such as use of the term “installation/update”) to stress the inclusion of the initial installation within the scope of updates.
License Feature Updates
In addition, there are update requirements that involve only licensing features. The term “organization” herein denotes any collection of individuals or individual entities that utilizes or benefits from the use of a licensed data product, including, but not limited to: commercial; governmental; institutional; social; political; religious; educational; philanthropic; or special-interest groups. The term “user” herein denotes a licensee of a licensed data product, or an authorized member of a licensee organization. The term “licensee” is herein expansively construed to include prospective future licensees and past licensees as well as current licensees. The term “licensing” herein encompasses all aspects and features of a license to use a licensed data product, including, but not limited to: the issuance of the license; the terms of the license; use, effect, or properties of the license not covered by a license agreement; and legal aspects of the license. The term “license feature” herein denotes any term or condition of a license. Non-limiting examples of license features include: term or extent of the license; applicability of the license; limitations of the license; legal conditions on the license.
A non-limiting example of a license matter involves licensed data products that have time-based licenses, such as subscription-based licensing. A particular user may be informed that his or her subscription to use a particular licensed computer product is about to expire, and the license requires renewal. Although there are no version or configuration updates involved in this case, the license itself requires update regarding the terms thereof (e.g., a time-extension or renewal). Other license updates include factors such as the number of times a licensed data product can be used. There is also a certain degree of overlap with configuration parameters, such as the resources available to a licensed data product, and the functionality that is available to a licensed data product. Therefore, the terms “version/configuration/license update” and variants thereof herein denote any change to the terms or other parameters of a licensed computer data product that involves modifications to the licensing thereof.
Monetary Aspects of License Update
There are often monetary values associated with a particular license. The term “monetary value” in the context of a license herein denotes any cost factor associated with the license or a feature thereof.
Following are three non-limiting examples involving monetary value of a license:                Example 1: A user purchases a license upgrade for a particular data product configuration that involves the installation of additional product features. The license upgrade has an additional cost, which the user pays to the vendor. In fulfillment of the purchase, the vendor sends the user an executable software application (or script) to install, set up, enable, or activate the additional product features covered by the license upgrade.        Example 2: A user has purchased a subscription extension for a time-based or usage-based license, wherein the data product itself monitors the time and/or usage for which the customer has purchased the extension. In fulfillment of the purchase, the vendor sends the user an executable software application (or script) to modify the license and the data product monitoring of the time and/or usage accordingly.        Example 3: A user has purchased a license for a particular data product configuration that is more comprehensive than actually required, and wishes to downgrade the configuration by removing, deactivating, or disabling certain unneeded features of the product. After performing the product downgrade, the user is entitled to a partial refund of the license fee corresponding to the monetary value of the features no longer included in the originally-installed configuration.        
There is thus a need for, and it would be highly advantageous to have, a method and system for efficient and definitive confirmation of version/configuration/license updates (including both upgrades and downgrades) actually installed on a computer for a licensed data product. This goal is met by the present invention.